Commentary Harper’s Sir John A. MacDonald speech. p6
For whom the GE Bridge bill tolls. p4
THE NEws
Community Paws 4 stories, helping kids read. p3
www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, september 20, 2013 · serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Restitution payment received Funds now available to environmental groups by Ne i l Cor be tt staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/thE nEws
Pitching in Adam Keizer and his son Quinn pick up litter along the South Alouette River, by Harris Road and Menzies Crossing in Pitt Meadows, on Sunday as part of the annual shoreline cleanup. Volunteers collected three large bags of garbage and two of recyclable materials within a seven-kilometre stretch.
A court-ordered payment of $54,000 for Water Act infractions by a farm company indirectly affiliated with the Aquilini Investment Group of companies in Pitt Meadows was paid on Sept. 13. The same day, the Maple RidgePitt Meadows News reported that the payment $54,000 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation was overdue. The payment was to have been made in January. Company spokesman John Negrin said on Sept. 12 that he believed the conservation payment portion had been paid, and would look into it. “Upon learning that it was not paid, we promptly paid it,” said Negrin, who is president of Aquilini Renewable Energy.
see Payment, p5
Not guilty verdict in fatal Pitt crash Family and friends upset, want the verdict appealed by M onisha M ar t ins staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/thE nEws
(From left) Audrey De Oliveira and other family and friends react to the verdict outside New West court.
A woman who lost control of her car, killing a young couple in Pitt Meadows three years ago, was acquitted of dangerous driving causing death Wednesday following a trial in New Westminster Supreme Court. As soon as Madame Justice Miriam Gropper said “not guilty,” family and friends of the deceased couple stormed
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out of the court room. Many burst into tears. Rebecca ‘Beckie’ Dyer, 19, and her boyfriend, Johnny De Oliveira, 21, died around midnight Oct. 19. 2010, when a Toyota driven by Andelina Kristina Hecimovic skidded sideways over a concrete median, flipped and landed on top of their Suzuki Swift. Hecimovic was driving in the right-turnonly lane when she crossed the intersection of Harris Road and Lougheed Highway on a red light. An expert estimated she hit the concrete median at a speed of between 100 or 110 km/hr.
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Hecimovic took the stand in her defence during the trial and testified she was heading to her boyfriend’s house after a trying day working as a nurse at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, where a suicidal young man vomited on her. Choking back tears, Hecimovic told the court she was thinking about her shift and suddenly smelled something odd as she approached the intersection. When she looked at her scrubs she noticed vomit on her shirt and burst into tears. She was trying to wipe the tears off her face and focus on the road when she realized she had run a red light.
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